Dogs rule at 42nd Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games

The sounds of bagpipes cutting through the air signaled that it was the start of the 42nd Annual Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games.

Folks walked around, checking out the different clan tents that lined the main field, where the competitive games and demonstrations took place. Tartans were as far as the eye could see.

Attendees could make their way to the Townsend Visitor’s Center stage area, where they could grab a bite of authentic Scottish or British food from various food trucks and watch some Highlands dancing.

Vendor tents hosted artisans selling their wares, and drums rang out from one of the dedicated performance tents over the sounds of bagpipers practicing their songs.

The schedule of events for the day included the games, music, bagpiping and sheepdog demonstrations.

As soon as the first herding demonstration was about to start, folks packed the bleachers and sides of the field for a chance to see the working dogs.

Shona O’Kane, who was leading the demonstration, called her first border collie, Jake, out onto the field. She spoke to the audience about Jake’s personality and explained the commands she was calling as Jake circled the field.

“Come by me” means to circle left around the herd. “Away to me” means to circle right. “Walk up” means to walk up to the herd and “That’ll do” means to return to the owner. Different whistles can represent these calls and O’Kane would sometimes command Jake with a whistle rather than calling out.

O’Kane explained that the dogs will have different personalities and ways of dealing with their herd. She said her sheep react differently, depending on which dog she is using.

Jake’s pace seemed steady and calm as he wrangled up the sheep and brought them to O’Kane.

The next dog she brought out was Preacher. O’Kane described Preacher as young and a bit of a wild card. When given his command, Preacher bolted, flying across the field to gather up the sheep. His listening skills were not as finessed as Jake’s, but Preacher is only three years old.

O’Kane quoted a proverb that stated, “A border collie is not finished until it has one year under each of its feet.”

O’Kane has been raising and training border collies all her life. She started working with them in Ireland as a child. She worked with her mother, who raised border collies. When she was in the sixth grade, O’Kane moved to Canada and later to North Carolina, where she now lives with her four adult border collies, Bobby, Texas, Preacher and Jake.

While living in Canada, O’Kane said she would visit America to compete in dog trials, running with her mother’s dogs.

When she was older, she worked in film and television as an animal wrangler.

She competed in North Carolina with her dogs, was eventually offered a job, and chose to live there.

O’Kane regularly gives demonstrations with her border collies at various events. This was her fourth year at the Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games.

She said she loves working with border collies, but they are not without challenges.

“It can be very rewarding and very frustrating,” she said

O’Kane explained that younger dogs can be similar in temperament to toddlers. Border collies are extremely intelligent, high-energy, and most importantly, workaholics.

While they are a more high-maintenance breed than your average house dog, O’Kane loves working with them.

“I’ve never been without a border collie,” she said.

Next to the area where O’Kane was set up with her animals, Phil Lakin of Lakin Farms in Strawberry Plains, sat with a highland cow, a flock of sheep and his two border collies, Roscoe and Lily.

Lakin said the dogs were there just in case his livestock got out and needed to be corralled back into their pens.

Lakin has been working with border collies for 30 years. Like O’Kane, he learned border collie training through his family, particularly from his grandfather, who immigrated to America from Scotland.

On Lakin’s farm, the dogs help to herd about 30 sheep, 18 Highland cows and three bulls, Lakin said.

He echoed O’Kane’s description of the breed.

They love to work, Lakin said.

O’Kane and her border collies can also be found at other Highland Games. In fact, they have been at so many that her dogs know the sound of bagpipes.

“Sometimes, I’ll pull up to a Games, and I’ll have the windows of the truck down, and when they hear — if there’s pipers practicing and they hear it, that trailer will just light up.”